This invention relates generally to systems which utilize waste oil as fuel and relates, more particularly, to the means with which fuel and air are delivered to the combustion zone of such a system for burning.
It is known that unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide emissions from fuel-burning equipment can present a threat to health and safety. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency has determined that unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide can contribute to higher levels of smog and air pollution and can contribute to global warming. Furthermore, the breathing of unburned hydrocarbons can increase the risk of cancer and can lead to other health problems.
Unburned hydrocarbons and attending carbon monoxide are the result of incomplete combustion. Therefore, it is desirable that all of the hydrocarbons and combustible impurities used in waste oil and fuel oil-burning equipment be burned within the equipment. It is a greater challenge in waste oil-burning equipment (than in fuel oil-burning furnaces) to effect complete combustion because waste oil is harder to burn and has much higher levels of cancer-causing hydrocarbons, referred to as PAHs (short for polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons), than does fuel oil. Moreover, unburned hydrocarbons represent a waste of energy and increase the potential for soot fires in an exhaust flue. It would therefore be desirable to provide an oil-burning system, such as a furnace, with the capacity to completely burn the fuels delivered to the combustion zone of such a system.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved combustion burner assembly for a waste oil-burning system whose components contribute to the completeness of the burning of the fuels delivered to the combustion zone of such a furnace.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a burner assembly whose operation increases the efficiency of the burn of fuel delivered to the combustion zone of an oil-burning system and consequently reduces the amount of unburned hydrocarbons which are permitted to escape into the surrounding environment.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such a burner assembly whose components are uncomplicated in construction yet effective in operation.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved flame retention head for use in a burner assembly of an oil-burning system.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a flame retention head which contributes to the completeness of the burning of the oil being burned in the oil-burning system.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide such a flame retention head which is uncomplicated in construction yet effective in operation.
This invention resides in a flame retention head for a nozzle block assembly of a waste oil-burning system having a combustion zone within which oil is burned in the presence of air and wherein the nozzle block assembly includes an atomizing nozzle through which oil and air are delivered to the combustion zone of the system for burning.
The flame retention head includes a platen-like body of substantially circular form having a central opening through which the atomizing nozzle is positioned for directing air and oil into the combustion zone for burning, and wherein the central opening has a diameter of no less than about 1.3 inches. In addition, the platen-like body includes a plurality of radially-extending vanes formed therein wherein each vane forms with the remainder of the platen-like body a gap which is joined to and extends radially-outwardly of the central opening and wherein each gap has a width which is no less than about 0.07 inches.